


Something There

by FriendlyNonMurdering



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, But mostly fluff, College AU, First Kiss, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Young Genji Shimada, Young Jesse McCree, cheesyyyy, teeny bits of angst, think Blackwatch but university
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 13:32:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13124763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FriendlyNonMurdering/pseuds/FriendlyNonMurdering
Summary: “There’s ahorriblenoise, coming from the evil box underneath the window!” Jesse said, embarrassingly in-time with the film. What could he say? He had a gift for memorizing movies.Jesse launched into the radiator screech (kkshh-aaAAA), completely oblivious to Genji inching closer and closer until their sides were pressed together. Genji leaned into Jesse’s side, paper plate discarded at the head of the bed and alcohol bottles shoved to the side so that he could slot closer to Jesse’s body. Jesse flushed cherry red when Genji’s arms wrapped around his waist, thankful that the only light in the room was from Jesse’s laptop screen. If Genji could see how red his face felt, Jesse wouldn’t be able to live it down.--Quick Christmas fic!





	Something There

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter @Nonmurdering  
> tumblr friendlymurdering.tumblr.com

Jesse opened the mini fridge for the seventeenth time that day. Some little part of him was hoping that, on the seventeenth try, some food would magically appear for him to eat. His _mamá_ had already sent him pictures of the dinner that they were having back home—and she included all of the steps in the cooking, too—and it made Jesse homesick _and_ hungry. He knew that money had been tight, and airplane tickets were expensive as Hell, but he was still inwardly a little bitter about not being home to celebrate Christmas. Almost the entire school had cleared out for the holidays, aside from the few stragglers leftover, like Jesse, that couldn’t make it home.

Jesse slammed the fridge shut with a heavy sigh. Despite his dedicated hoping and praying, there was nothing in there except for a half-finished gallon of milk. And while Jesse was no stranger to drinking milk as a meal—it was university, and desperate times called for desperate measures—he _really_ wanted something that wasn’t milk. Why hadn’t he stocked up on food before the holidays?

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, opened up the internet app, and searched for the nearest grocery store. The closest one to campus was a thirty-minute walk, and it closed at eight p.m. for the holiday. He would check food delivery services, but most of those bordered on far too expensive for a broke university student that hadn’t gotten a job yet.

Resigned to his fate, Jesse stuffed his phone back into his pocket. He didn’t _want_ to walk an hour round trip for his dinner, but the weather wasn’t terrible out, and he hadn’t gotten any exercise in since classes ended. For the most part, he’d been surviving on canned vegetables, and with no reason to get up and go to classes, the farthest he’d moved was from his bed to his desk. 

Jesse pulled his boots on over his sweatpants. He didn’t see the need to change into jeans, but he didn’t have anything other than his leather boots and slippers, and he was _not_ walking thirty minutes away and thirty minutes back in slippers. He pulled on a hoodie next and stuffed his wallet and keys into the pocket in the middle. _Just in case_ he grabbed a pack of cigarettes and his lighter, too. Next was his hat. Jesse slipped the beanie on over his embarrassingly un-brushed hair as he slid out the door and closed it softly behind him.

He started down the hallway with a bit of pep in his step, humming a Christmas song to himself to try and make the walk seem shorter than it really was. He tromped down the hallway and the first set of stairs before tripping over his own two feet. No, not his own two feet, but someone else’s. 

The both of them squawked unattractively. Jesse tumbled to the floor, as did the person he’d tipped over. Jesse sat up as quick as he could, an apology already on the tip of his tongue. He was met by a glare that lacked any real heat when he turned around, and the words were ripped right out of him by that look.

Jesse had just bowled over the one and only Genji Shimada.

Jesse knew Genji pretty well. In a sense. He knew Genji through other people, from the things that they had said about him. A few things floated around in his brain, the art student that liked dragons, the guy who could beat anybody at any game, the campus sl—

Jesse mentally smacked himself before the word could form entirely in his thoughts. What would his _mamá_ think of him, letting rumors like that influence his thoughts? Nobody deserved to be called nasty names like that, no matter what other people said.

“Can I help you?” Genji grumbled, raising a thick eyebrow high at Jesse.

He didn’t look in any hurry to get up off the ground. If Jesse wasn’t wrong, it looked like Genji had been sitting down the entire time. Genji, if anything, looked completely content to lie on the floor with his cheek pressed against the dirty tile.

“I’m real sorry,” Jesse said. He scrambled to sit up and made sure to offer his hand to Genji. “I wasn’t lookin’ where I was goin’. Didn’t mean to knock us both down.”

Genji examined Jesse’s hand like it was going to bite him. He frowned at first but eventually accepted. He hauled himself back into a sitting position and scooted against the wall once more. He grabbed his phone from the floor and began tapping away at it. Jesse could faintly hear the Tetris theme song.

He didn’t realize he’d been staring until Genji’s eyes flickered back up to him. His eyes were bloodshot, making him look almost scary. And… kinda sad. Jesse wished he knew more about Genji than what other people said. Did he not sleep? 

“What?” Genji snapped. The venom dripping from his voice might have scared off a lesser man, but Jesse was not known for backing down.

“I was wonderin’ what you were doin’ in the stairwell, just sittin’ here,” Jesse said. 

“Bad one-night stand,” Genji replied. The corner of his lips quirked up for half a second before it was gone again. He tilted his head forward to look at his phone again, and suddenly Jesse could see the angry red mark that was half-formed on his neck.

“It ain’t even six p.m.,” Jesse said, adjusting himself to sit cross-legged across from Genji.

Genji’s eyes flickered over Jesse, narrowed suspiciously. “I said it was bad,” Genji growled.

“Musta been,” Jesse agreed. He propped his elbow on his knee, and his chin in his hand, watching Genji tear his attention repeatedly away from Jesse and back to his game. “What are you gonna do for Christmas?” Jesse asked. 

Genji furrowed his dark eyebrows. “Nothing. Maybe find someone who can fuck me for longer than five seconds.”

“Why ain'tcha home?” Jesse asked.

Genji’s eyes snapped to Jesse’s in a glare so heated it nearly bowled Jesse over. “Why do you need to know?” 

Jesse raised his hands, leaning away from Genji to give him some space. “I was just wonderin’ is all.”

Genji frowned at that. He shoved his phone into his jacket pocket, then looked away from Jesse. “Why are you still here?”

Jesse shrugged and sighed softly. “It’s expensive to get home for the holidays, and it’s not like I’ll be gone forever. I’ll head back home over summer to visit. Are you gonna visit yer family then?”

Genji’s eyes, so red-rimmed it almost made his irises seem red, darted to Jesse’s face and then back down at the floor. “Most likely not.”

“Why’s that?” Jesse asked. He could punch himself in the mouth. Genji had made it very clear that it wasn’t something he was keen on talking about, but there Jesse was shoving his foot down his throat. 

“It is complicated,” Genji answered.

Jesse’s eyebrows shot up. While it wasn’t the whole answer Jesse was looking for, it was better than being shouted at. Neither of them had anything to say after that, but the silence was bordering on something that could be called comfortable. Jesse didn’t dare call Genji his friend—he hardly knew him at all—but it was that feeling like he’d known Genji for a long time.

“What are you doing for Christmas?” Genji asked, startling Jesse all over again. “Are you going to a party?” he asked. He examined Jesse from top to bottom where he was sitting. “In sweatpants?”

Jesse laughed. “Naw, I’m not goin’ to a party. I was gonna go get a microwave pizza or somethin’.” Jesse tilted his head at Genji. “You wanna come?”

It was Genji’s turn to look startled. His jaw dropped, and it took him a while to shut it. “You are… inviting me?” he asked slowly. 

“Well, yeah. You want a cheap pizza or not?” Jesse asked. He stood up and brushed off the seat of his pants, then offered a hand to Genji again. “I promise the brand I get ain’t all that bad, ‘specially once you get some ranch on ‘em.”

Genji looked appalled. “ _Ranch on pizza_?” he scoffed. He looked as if Jesse had personally offended him, and it sent Jesse into a small fit of giggles. “Do not laugh!” Genji barked. “That is disgusting!”

“Don’t knock it ‘til you try it!” Jesse shot back. 

 

And that was how, thirty minutes later, Jesse found himself just inside the grocery store with Genji, grabbing a cart. It looked like they were two of the very few people at the store. The parking lot was blessedly empty, and there was no one around to stare while Jesse desperately held back his snickering as Genji clambered into the basket of the cart.

“I am far too sober for this,” Genji grumbled, but Jesse could see a grin cracking through his semi-permanent scowl. 

“We can fix that,” Jesse urged. He held the cart still while Genji crawled into it, still snorting as he tried to hold back his laughter. “I’ve got enough extra cash for a bottle of somethin’ if you want.”

Not for the first time that evening, Genji shot Jesse a stunned look. Sitting in the basket as he was, with his knees drawn up to hit chest to fit, he looked a whole lot smaller. Jesse admired the look as he struggled—only slightly—to turn the cart around and get the wheels rolling with Genji’s added weight. He looked a lot cuter when he wasn’t glowering at everything that breathed. 

“You don’t want me to pay?” Genji asked, cocking his head to the side like a confused dog.

Jesse flapped his hand dismissively as he pushed Genji and the cart into the store and toward the frozen food aisle. He caught a cashier out of the corner of his eye, opening and closing her mouth as if to say something before she resigned and realized it wasn’t really worth it. 

“You don’t gotta pay; I’m the one who invited you. ‘Sides, my taste in alcohol is dirt cheap, anyway,” Jesse explained. “What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn’t pay for the winin’ ‘n’ dinin’ on the first date?” he threw in a wink without realizing it.

Genji’s eyes went wide, and he looked away from Jesse hastily. As Jesse’s own words sunk in, he could feel the crimson blush creeping up his cheeks, too. He meant it as a joke, but what had he been _thinking_? Obviously, he hadn’t been thinking at all.

Jesse mentally chided himself, hating the somewhat tense silence that had settled over the two of them as they made their way into the frozen foods. Jesse nearly had to haul the cart backward to get it to stop completely, settling beside the frozen microwave dinners.

“I know microwave ain’t nothin’ fancy, but it’ll do for a quick Christmas dinner, right?” Jesse pondered aloud. He went straight for the pizzas he _knew_ were the best microwave brand, and handed six of them over to Genji, who took them with furrowed eyebrows.

“Why this many?” he asked, holding the thin boxes in his hands.

“You’d be surprised how damn good those are, Genji,” Jesse said, hopping behind the cart once more and steering them down the aisle. “I could eat all six of them if you gave me enough time, or if I was hungry enough.”

They fell into silence again, and it wasn’t until after grabbing cheap whiskey and sake—Genji insisted, and said that he would pay for his own, but Jesse politely refused—and they pulled up to a register, much to the dismay of the cashier, that Genji spoke again.

Jesse had his debit card stuck in the machine, waiting for it to process, one hand on his hip, while Genji accepted the plastic bag of alcohol, pizza, and ranch. He turned over his shoulder to look at Jesse again, who could feel those eyes on him.

“Did you know that you say microwave weird?” Genji asked.

Jesse furrowed his eyebrows and blinked. Well. He hadn’t been expecting that one. “I do?” he asked, turning to look at Genji.

Genji nodded. “Like macrowave,” he explained. “I think it’s funny.”

“No one’s ever told me that before,” Jesse mumbled, more than a little sheepishly. “Is it weird?”

“I said it was funny,” Genji corrected. He settled his back against the cart once Jesse finished paying and began pushing it once more. “You say a lot of things funny.”

“It’s cuzza the accent, I know,” Jesse said.

He wheeled Genji out of the store, waiting next to the cart in case he needed a helping hand to get out. Genji wobbled around at first but caught his balance easily once more. Jesse kept his hand held out the entire time, taking the bag from Genji when it was passed over. Part of Jesse was hoping that Genji would slip, even a little bit. His mind ran rampant with that thought, imagining catching Genji. He’d say something smooth, too, like in movies. 

“Are you coming?” Genji asked.

Jesse turned around, startled out of his own ridiculous daydream. Genji had gotten himself out of the cart and was a few paces away from Jesse, head tilted to the side. He had one dark eyebrow raised high. Jesse, a little embarrassed, laughed over it and caught up with Genji. He went fishing through the bag, grabbing the cheap whiskey and tearing the plastic off the cap with his teeth. He offered it to Genji, beaming at him.

“Would you like the honors?” Jesse asked.

Genji’s eyes flickered up and down over Jesse’s face. He looked cautious, but no longer as if he were afraid that Jesse was going to bite him at any second. Genji took the bottle and unscrewed the cap. He held it up to his lips and took a mouthful of it. His face scrunched up _adorably_ if Jesse did say so. He stuck his tongue out after gulping it down and offered the bottle back to Jesse.

“Not much for hard liquor?” Jesse teased. He took the bottle from Genji, doing his best—and failing—not to let the inner fifteen-year-old take over and make a big deal about drinking from the same bottle.

“I did not say that,” Genji said, “but I do prefer drinks where I cannot taste the alcohol.”

“Ohh, so yer after all them fruity drinks.”

“Have you ever tried ‘them fruity drinks’?”

“Can’t say that I have,” Jesse mused. He took another sip from the bottle before offering it to Genji once more.

Genji smirked wide at Jesse. It was _much_ better than his usual pout or frown. Jesse had to admit, now that they’d talked a little more, he could see why he'd heard more than once about how attractive Genji was. Jesse just didn’t know why he was so damn grumpy.

“Don’t knock it ‘til you try it,” Genji said with a smug twinkle in his red-rimmed eyes.

A grin broke out on Jesse’s lips. Cute _and_ sharp. 

 

Genji snorted as he bumped into Jesse’s back. Jesse was still struggling with the keypad on the outside of his door, his efforts ruined all over again by a tipsy Genji that seemed to have lost all sense of balance and grace that he had earlier in the night. He slid around Jesse, who was doing his best to reign in his laughter, despite knowing that no one else was nearby.

“Are you having trouble?” Genji asked, quirking an eyebrow at Jesse.

Jesse scoffed, finally getting his frozen fingers to cooperate and punch in the code to unlock his door. “Not at all,” he lied as he shoved the door open. More than a little tipsy himself, he stumbled inside, holding the door open for Genji.

“My space is on the left,” Jesse said. He kicked off his boots and shed his winter layers before taking two of the microwave pizzas to said microwave. 

Genji went that way, looking around for a few brief moments as Jesse started on the pizzas. 

“Wanna watch a movie?” Jesse asked, peering at Genji. “I got some dumb Christmas ones on Amazon if ya want.”

Genji looked back at Jesse, finally shedding his heavy—and expensive, Jesse noted—winter coat. He set it on the back of Jesse’s chair. “Sure,” he said. His tone had an edge of suspicion back in it, although Jesse had no idea why.

“I only got my laptop,” Jesse continued as he walked over to his desk. “But it’s better’n nothin’.” 

He browsed through a selection of Christmas films, settling on his favorite, _Elf_ , after a while of silent debate. He set it up for the two of them, and then glanced back at Genji again as it began to play.

“Y’can sit where ya like,” Jesse said.

Genji watched Jesse for a long time before sitting down on the bed. It made Jesse almost uncomfortable, how quickly Genji had gone from being in a good, drunken mood outside the door to pouting again. Genji sat down on the edge of Jesse’s bed. 

The microwave dinged, and Jesse got their pizzas, plopping himself down close next to Genji. He leaned back against the wall, kicking his feet out over the edge of the bed. Genji eyed him warily but scooted back as well with his pizza on a flimsy plate. His hand ended up on Jesse’s thigh at some point, but they had both drunk a little more than they should’ve, and Genji was off-balance, so Jesse didn’t notice it. He also didn’t notice the brief annoyance on Genji’s face.

They got through their first two pizzas in record time, with Genji actually asking for more, though with a somewhat awkward blush as he did so. With the second round of pizzas, Jesse brought the whiskey and sake with him. They alternated between the two of them, drunker than skunks in no time at all. 

Jesse was so invested in the movie, saying nearly every line—and having no decency to whisper it or try to keep his voice down, what with all the booze in his system.

“There’s a _horrible_ noise, coming from the evil box underneath the window!” Jesse said, embarrassingly in-time with the film. What could he say? He had a gift for memorizing movies.

Jesse launched into the radiator screech ( _kkshh-aaAAA_ ), completely oblivious to Genji inching closer and closer until their sides were pressed together. Genji leaned into Jesse’s side, paper plate discarded at the head of the bed and alcohol bottles shoved to the side so that he could slot closer to Jesse’s body. Jesse flushed cherry red when Genji’s arms wrapped around his waist, thankful that the only light in the room was from Jesse’s laptop screen. If Genji could see how red his face felt, Jesse wouldn’t be able to live it down.

Bordering on awkward, Jesse put an arm around Genji’s shoulders, allowing him to scoot in as close as he pleased. 

The rest of the movie passed without any conversation. With Genji leaning so heavily against him, Jesse didn’t have the courage to quote all of the lines. His brain was too busy tripping around, jumping from one thought to another. What did this mean? Did it mean _anything_? Jesse was probably just overthinking.

Jesse glanced down at Genji, with his half-lidded eyes and the light of the screen highlighting all his best features. He was back to pouting, but it didn’t look as menacing as Jesse had seen him earlier today and from brief interactions on campus that were little more than glancing up at each other as they walked.

Jesse wasn’t sure what to do when the movie ended. He couldn’t say for sure, but Genji was leaning his entire weight on Jesse now, and he hadn’t moved for a while. Had he fallen asleep? Jesse peered down at Genji, trying to see if he still had his eyes open or not. When he moved, Genji’s head tilted back, and their eyes met. At least Jesse’s question was answered.

“I’m gonna grab a cigarette,” Jesse said. It hadn’t been his original intention for moving, but it would do. It was better than saying ‘I was hoping you were asleep because maybe I wanted to kiss your forehead because you’re _too damn cute_.’ 

Genji breathed in deep and sighed with a little groan. He stretched his long legs out in front of himself, toes pointing. “I will go with you,” he slurred. He untangled himself from Jesse’s side and stood, searching for his boots.

Jesse got up, too. He flicked the light on so they would actually be able to see—both of them winced for a quick moment at the change. 

The air was colder than it had been earlier that night, with their breaths puffing in thick clouds in front of them. Genji looked like he was doing well enough, bundled in his expensive coat, but Jesse wanted nothing more than to have his smoke and get back inside where it was warm.

He stepped away from Genji as he lit his cigarette. Just the habit of it made him feel better, all the drunken nerves and paranoia of exactly _what_ Genji had been thinking, cuddling up to Jesse like that, vanishing with the first inhale. 

Genji stood somewhat away from Jesse, though he had no doubts that Genji could still smell the smoke. They both swayed on their feet. 

“I am sorry,” Genji said.

Jesse looked at him with both eyebrows raised. He pulled the cigarette away from his mouth, exhaling a cloud of smoke. “What for?” he asked.

“My attitude earlier,” he nudged his toe against the frozen ground and dead grass. “I am not very used to people being nice simply to be nice,” he continued. His gaze flickered to Jesse, looking unsure as a baby deer. “Most people, when they are nice to me, expect something in return. I know what people say about me.”

“I didn’t think any o’ those things,” Jesse swore, taking a step closer to Genji. “It don’t matter what they say; I wasn’t gonna let that—”

Genji rolled his eyes, effectively silencing Jesse. “I did not say that Jesse,” Genji interrupted. “I meant that I know you’ve heard those things but you… you treated me like another person,” he explained. Somehow, he seemed so much smaller than when he was angry or when he showed Jesse the occasional smile. “And I was very defensive about my family. I did not mean to come across as rude.”

“I was the one who was pryin’,” Jesse countered. “I shouldn’t’a asked. You had every right to get annoyed. We all got troubles. An’ it’s Christmas. No one wants ta be reminded of the bad shit when it’s Christmas.” Jesse blushed and cut himself off, getting the distinct feeling that he was rambling again with an alcohol-loosened tongue.

Genji turned his head up to look at Jesse, his dark eyes flickering back and forth between Jesse’s. A tiny smile broke out on his lips. It was the most genuine thing that Jesse had seen the entire night with Genji.

Genji stepped forward into Jesse’s space. He rolled forward onto his tippy-toes and pressed his lips against Jesse’s softly.

Jesse gaped like a fish when Genji pulled away.

Genji’s smile cracked into a big, toothy grin.

“You didn’t hafta do that,” Jesse weakly protested.

Genji tilted his head far to the side. He lost ten years with that coy smile, looking like a spry college student that he was supposed to be. “What if I wanted to do that?” Genji asked. He shifted from foot to foot. Cautiously, his arms came up, and he put his hands on Jesse’s shoulders. “What if I want to do that more?”

Jesse wished this were some other time. Not that he was complaining, but he probably tasted like cigarette smoke and tobacco and cheap pizza and cheaper whiskey. If Genji minded, he kept his mouth shut.

“I don’t think I could say no,” Jesse answered after a few hesitant and tentative moments.

Genji’s grin turned Cheshire as he deftly bounced onto his toes once more. His lips sought Jesse’s once more, who didn’t have a second thought about kissing back, the biting chill of the air around them long forgotten.

**Author's Note:**

> There's some details in this where I'm like eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhitsokay


End file.
